My dishwasher broke recently.
For a while, I was wondering why the laminate floor in my kitchen appeared to be warped. I figured it had something to do with the humid weather or maybe I was sleeping walking at night and flooding the kitchen. Neither option sat well with me. Then one night, while the dishwasher was half way through the wash, I stepped on the laminate floor in front of the washer and water came oozing out. Bingo.
An appliance repair guy came out to look at it. He took off the bottom panel, ran the dishwasher off and on in 2 minute spurts at different stages of the cycle. As I was praying for the dishwasher to start gushing water like a broker fire hydrant, he found the cause of my problems: the dishwasher wasn’t closed tight enough. Because the dishwasher was an older model, I needed to put more oomph into closing it.
Basically, I had a guy come out to my house to tell me that due to lack of muscle, I wrecked the floors in my kitchen. Great!
He left off the bottom gate so I could see if it would leak again. With the first load of dishes I put in, I watched for even just a hint of condensation. Nothing after 5 minutes. I went back to work, standing at the counter with my computer.
10 minutes later water came trickling out to the laminate. This was cause for celebration and frustration. It appeared the dishwasher was haunted and mocking me. It leaks for me, but not for the actual guy who will fix it.
There it is. I called back the appliance guy and assured him I wasn’t nuts. After more experimenting, he figured out the cause of the problem. When he tested the dishwasher before, he didn’t add soap. It turns out when the dish soap and water mixed, it formed a solution that leaked through the bottom motor. The dishwasher didn’t leak the first time because it was out of context.
Context is everything. It’s why some ideas work for some people and don’t work for other people. It’s why two comedians can tell the same joke, but have two completely different reactions. Good ideas can seem like terrible ideas in the wrong context. Context first, solution second. Or else you’ll find yourself cursing your dishwasher for not leaking and continually doing extra work.
Connect with me on Twitter where I don’t talk about dishwashers: @BenNesvig